Incubator.



J. L. SHUTB.

INOUBATOR'.

APPLICATION IILED my 16. 1913.

1,1 17,919, Patented N0v.17,1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET1.

attorneys THE NORRIS PETERS 60., PHOTO-Llllfll. WASH ING MN) 'L C,

J. L. SHUTE.

INGUBATOB.

APPLIUATION FILED HAY 18, 1913.

1,117,919, Patented Nov. 17, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHE-ET 2.

wi g/f /W7%Mm witness THE NORRIS PETERS (20.. PMO1D-LITNO.3 WAHINGM. D.C

J. L. SHUTE.

INGUBATOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY16.1913.

Zmvemor attorneys THE NORRIS PEYERS Cr: PHOTO-LITHD.. WASHINGTON, I) C.

J. L. SHUTB.

INOUBATOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 16, 1913.

Patented Nov. 17, 1914.

4 SHEETS--SHEBT 4.

3 nvcntor mime attorneys IHE NORRIS PEYERS 60.. PHOTDLITHOV. wAsHHVsrvN.n i

JAMES L. SHUTE, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

INCUBATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 1'7, 1914.

Application filed May 16, 1913. Serial No. 768,138.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, JAMES L. SHUTE, citizenof the United States, residing at Seattle, .in the county of King andState of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Incubators; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to incubators, and more particularly toventilating systems for incubators, and an object of the invention is toprovide an improved heating element wherein none of the burnt gasesenter the incubator but wherein the heat may be used for raising thetemperature of air and a water system to the required temperature.

A further object of the invention is to provide an incubator formed intwo parts, one of which contains the heating apparatus while the otherpart contains heating coils and is provided with an improved bottom toeffect more complete circulation of air.-

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improvedheating element associated with devices automatically actuated forregulating the temperature of the incubator, said automatic devicesserving to throw a greater part of the heated gases in contact with thewater heater when the temperature is below normal but adapted to move sothat said gases may have other modes of exit and thereby decrease theheating effect upon the heating tank when the temperature is normal orabove.

A still further object of the invention is to provide means for keepingthe air in the incubator moist, said means being associated with anexpansion tank from which it debator and in providing a heating systemwith a hot water tank such that the heat V W. a.

from the tank may assist in the ready expulsion of the foul gases.

iVith these and other objects in view the invention comprises certainnovel construction, combinations, and arrangements of parts as will behereinafter more fully described and claimed. i

In the drawings, wherein I have shown the most practical embodiment ofmy inventi on and wherein similar reference characters designatecorresponding parts: Figure 1 is a vertical section taken through theheating chamber and showing the heating element and expansion tank'insection on line 11 of Fig. 3, Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken throughthe incubator on line 2-2 of Fig. 3, Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectionbelow the cover, the heating and ventilating systems being shown. Fig. 4is a vertical transverse section on the line 4-4: of Fig. 3, through theheating chamber. Fig. 5 is a vertical section through the nurserychamber of the incubator on line 55 of Fig. 3.

In the heating of incubators, there are two general methods used, one ofwhich employs heated air together with suitable means for producing acirculation, while the other method uses hot water. My present inventionaims to Provide a heating system which will combine the hot air and hotwater systems and. thereby produce a system which will give a uniformtemperature. In fact, experiments performed with an incubator madeaccording to the present invention have shown that throughout a periodof several weeks, through a range of from forty to fifty degrees oftemperature external to. the incubator, the temperature within did notfluctuate more than one degree. Notwithstanding this unifrrmity oftemperature, it has been possible to maintain satisfactory ventilationby the use of a ventilated floorv used in conjunction with a casing madepreferably of sheet metal and connecting the sub-floor of the incubatorwith the atmosphere. these results are obtained may be more clearlyunderstood, reference may be had to the accompanying drawings, whereinthe incubator is shown as having a partition 1 which divides saidincubator into two chambers, the chamber 2 being of suflicient size tocontain the heating and ventilating system while the chamber 3 isdesigned to be the nursery portion of the incubator and.

In order that the means whereby .,the heater. up heater 15 is an outerchimney-2O provided may be equipped with the Various attachments andaccessories in common use in the nurseries of the present lncubators. As

shown in the drawings, the bottom 1 oft-he incubator has extendinglengthwise several cleats or other suitable structure 5 which supportsthe false bottom 6 from which extends a support 7 provided with suitableflanges for supporting egg trays. Any par ticular formation of eggsupporting devices may be used and no claim is made to the particularsystem shown herein nor is the invention to be limited to the showingdisclosed in the drawing. It is desirable, however, that the trays havewire sides 8 so that the foul air which is formed around the eggs andwhich is also given off by the chicks after they have been-hatched maypass readily to the space 9 between the false bottom 6 and the bottom 4-of the incubator. The false bottom 6 is made slightly shorter than thecorresponding dimensions of the chamber 3 so that there will be a spaceat one end to allow the foul gases to pass into the space 9.

If desired, that surface of the partition 1 which is presented to thenursery chamber may be provided with a strip of cardboard or paper 10but whether this strip 10 be present or not, the partition 1 has part ofthe edge thereof cut away as shown at 11 in Figs. 1, 2 and 1. Thepurpose of this opening 11 will appear when the circulation of the airin the incubator is discussed.

The heating element used in connection with the heating chamber 2comprises a suitable lamp or other source of heat 12, which lamp may bemade after any improved design and adapted to burn oil as is the commonpractice. Extending from the lamp is a chimney 13 provided with a flange1% which engages the lower end of a heater 15. The shell of this heater15 may be made cylindrical and the interior thereof is provided with aconical sheet of metal 16 which forms in the cylinder a thin casing orheater adapted to receive the water to be heated. Surrounding thecylinder of the heater is an air vent 17 formed of a cylinder both endsof which are open, one of said ends being open to the atmosphere topermit the ingress of fresh air while the other end of said cylindercommunicates with the interior of the chamber 2. Leading from the heater15 and passing through the cylinder 17 is a pipe 18 which haswater-tight connection with said heater and an expansion tank 19. Asshown in the drawings, the heater may be supported from the flange letand the end of the pipe 18 projecting beyond the cylinder 17, althoughof course other methods may be used for stuaporting Extending upwardlyfrom the with the usual vent openings 21, while there is mounted withinthe chimney 20 aninterior chimney 22 secured to the chimney 20 by meansof braces .or other means 23. The lower end of the interior chimney 22is flared as at 24 and is adapted toreceive air from the restrictedopening of the chimney 13. Mounted upon the incubator in any approvedmanner is a rod 26 carrying a chain 27, the lower end of which isprovided with a damper 28, while the end of the rod 26 carries adeflecting plate or damper 29 adapted to close the top of the interiorchimney 22 when said rod 26 is depressed. The rod 26 may be actuated bymeans of any thermostatic control (not shown) located within the nurserychamber, and the particular means for connecting the red 26 to saidthermostatic control, forms no part of the present invention. Thus itwill be seen that when the rod 26 is depressed,'the deflecting plate 29will close the upper end of the chimney 22 and the heated gases from thelamp ]2 will pass out of the restricted opening -23 around the flaredend 24 of the chimney 22 and come in contact with the conical surface 16forming the inner part of the heater 15. In this way, when the interiorchimney is closed, all of the heated gases will be deflected against theinterior 16 of the heater.

The hot water heating part of my present invention comprises a watercircuit composed of a pipe 26, the lower end of which has awater-tightconnection with the heater 15. Said pipe 26 passes through anopening 27 formed in the partition 1 and from there by means of pipe28conducts water around a circuit lying. adjacent the outer walls of thenursery section. The return end of the pipe 28 passes through the partition 1 and is connected by means of a pipe 29 with the expansion tank19. Preferably, this pipe 29 extends continuously through the expansiontank, entering at the top at one end and emerging from the bottom of theopposite end and communicating with pipe 18. In this way, there isestablished a complete water system, and water heated in the heater 15may rise through pipe 26 and pass through the pipes 28 and 29 and returnto the heater by means of the pipe 18, a natural circulation being setup in the pipes by reason of the fact that the pipe 26 is con-- nectedto the upperend of the heater, whereas the pipe 18 is connected to thelower end of the heater 15.

The expansion tank 19 is made relativelylarge with respect to thecirculating pipes and heater and is made in such form as to presentconsiderable surface, a desirable form for this purpose being a thinoblong tank such as shown in the drawings, the opposite sides of whichare braced by means munication with the circulating system, the upperend of the pipe 29 has a vent 31 permitting water to pass from the pipe29 into the tank while the lower end of said pipe is provided with asecond vent 32 also communicating with the tank at a point adjacent thepoint of emergence of the pipe 29 from the tank 19. This tank is madelarge enough to accommodate considerable water and is fed by means of afeeder pan 33 which is connected to the top of the expansion tank bymeans of a suitable pipe connection 34. \Vhile the pan 33 affords meansfor supplying extra water through the tank, a discharge cock may beconnected to the bottom of the tank whereby the water may be drawn fromthe system whenever desired, and in order that the system may beproperly vented, there is provided a pipe 36 connecting the pipe 28 tothe atmosphere.

From the matter thus far described, the operation of the heatingsystemwill be as follows: The arm 26 will be in its downward position, beingacted upon by the thermostatic control (not shown), insomuch as thetemperature of the incubator is not up to normal. The lamp 12 may thenbe lighted and it will be seen that the heated gases may not pass out ofthe interior chimney 22 because of the deflecting plate 29, but the saidgases will be forced. against the shell 16 and pass out of the top ofthe exterior chimney 20 and the vents 21. The water in the heater 15 israpidly heated and the circulation is thereby set up through the pipes26, 28, 29 and 18. This heats the said pipes and the air in theincubator becomes heated until the thermostatic controlling device (notshown) raises the deflecting plate 29 away from the interior of chimney22, at which time a large quantity of the gases of combustion will passout of said interior chimney and will not come in direct contact withthe heater. Thus the heating effect upon the water in the system will bechecked and the deflecting plate 29 held away from the chimney until thetemperature falls below normal. Simultaneous with the heating of thewater, there is set up in the air casing 17 a draft which draws into thechamber 2 fresh air from the outside, but it will be noted that althoughthe entrance to the air column surrounds the chimney 13, yet the airdraft is not at its maximum until the water in the heater issufficiently hot to assist in promoting circulation of air through thecylinder 17. Thus, if for any reason, the temperature of the incubatorshould suddenly drop, due to the cooling of water in the heater, the aircirculation will be checked somewhat so that the heating may be moreprogressive within the incubator than would be the case were thecirculation normal. In order that the fresh air which is brought in fromthe bottom of the incubator may not be too dry, there is provided uponthe topof the expansion tank an evaporating pan 37 which may be filledby means of a pipe 38 from without the incubator. Should excessiveheating occur, rod 26 will rise sufficiently to lift damper 28 fromopening 39 formed in the top of the incubator so that the air may escaperapidly to bring the temperature within the incubator down to normal.Insomuch as this pan rests upon the top of the expansion tank, noadditional means are necessary for heating the water and insomuch as theintake of air is roughly proportional to the heat of the water, it willbe seen that the evaporation will be self regulating.

In order to conceal the top of the nursery chamber of the incubatorthere is provided the usual strip of building paper or paste board, suchpasteboard or partition being spaced from the top of the incubator so asto provide an air space to prevent undesirable reduction of heat.

A drip pipe 43 may be employed for draining the evaporating pan 37,which drip pipe 43 may also be provided with a suitable stopcock 44.

Referring to Fig. 2, it will be seen that there is provided an A-shapedcasing 40 which may be formed of sheet metal, one side of whichterminates at the bottom 4 and forms a seal between the nursery chamber3, the space 9 and the heating and ventilating chamber 2. As fresh airis drawn into the heating chamber 2 and is heated, it will naturallyrise and pass through the opening formed at 11 in the partition 1 asindicated by the arrows in Figs. 1 and 2. A tendency will be for thisfresh air to force the foul air through the grating 8 into the space 9and up through the A-shaped casing 40. This casing 40 is so placed thatone of its surfaces is in direct contact with the heating chamber 2 sothat the foul air will be heated and thereby assisted in its egress fromthe incubator. The top of the casing 40 is reduced as shown at 41 andmay be provided with a perforated plate 42.

What I claim is:

1. In a device of the class described, a receptacle including betweenits upper and lower walls a main compartment, a second compartmentformed in part by a partition wall between said compartments, asupplementary compartment below the main compartment and havingcommunication therewith, a casing within the second compartmentsubstantially parallel with the partition wall and communicating withthe external air, the interior of the casing having communication withthe supplementary compartment, a water and air heating device in thesecond compartment, means for conduct ing water therefrom through themain compartment, and means for permitting the flow of heated air abovethe casi-ng from the'sec- 0nd compartment to the mam compartment,

.thence to the supplementary compartment and the interior'of the casing.

52. In a vdevice of the class described, a main compartment, a secondcompartment having communication therewith at its upper portion, asupplementary compartment be- .lOW the main compartment, a casing in thesecond compartment, the interlor of the cas-.

ing having communication with the supplementary compartment, a Water andair heatmg device in the second compartment, means; for conveying Waterfrom the sand device permitted to flow from the second compartment tothe main compartment, thence to the supplementary compartment and theinterior of the casing, and means permitting the egress of air from thecasing.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingWashington, D. 0.

3. In a deviceof the class described, a main compartment, a secondcompartment, an expansion tank Within the latter, a Waterand air heatingdevice also in the secondcompartment, a pipe communicating with the.lower portion of the Water heating device and extending through saidexpansion tank and through the main compartment, thence to the upperportion of the Water heating device, means permitting the flow of airthrough the expansion tank and thence to the main compartment, means forregulating the temperature Within the main compartment, means forcontrolling the temperature of the Water heating device, said regulatingmeans being operative after the con trolling device has moved apredetermined distance. y

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence oftWo Witnesses.

' JAMES L. SHUTE.

, Witnesses:

G. WARD KEMP, JAMns- ROTH ELL.

the Commissioner 01! Iatents,

